NY trout anglers' dilemma: 2018 season opener falls on Easter Sunday

This year’s opening day of the New York State trout fishing season falls, as it does every year, on April 1.

What’s unique about this year is that April 1 is a Sunday – Easter Sunday to be exact. Undoubtedly, that fact will keep some anglers off the water that day, at least in the morning and quite possibly into the afternoon due to church and family obligations.

For some anglers, it won’t make any difference. They’ll be out fishing.

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Special to NYup.com

The last time Easter and the state’s trout season opener were on the same day was in 1956.

The bottom line: April 1 has been a long-standing date for the state’s trout fishing opener and a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation said there was no discussion this year to move it up a day to Saturday, March 31, to avoid a conflict.

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Dick Blume/The Post Standard

The Rev. Gladston B. “Skip” Adams III (above), the former Episcopal bishop of CNY, is currently serving in South Carolina, Charleston. He was in Skaneateles this week visiting family. While serving in Upstate New York, Adams was known as a passionate and dedicated fly fisherman. When he was pastor of the Skaneateles Episcopal Church he used to practice fly casting in the church.

Adams said he gets those who say that being on a trout stream is like being at church.

“A part of my gratefulness for the gift of the resurrection is to delight in the creation that God has given us to take care of – including trout streams,” he said. He added, though, it is important to be with one’s community of faith on the most important day in the life of Christian spirituality.

He advised Christians to make time to worship that day, noting “there are plenty of options and time to go fishing before and after the service.”

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David Figura | dfigura@syracuse.com

One place where trout fishing is really big in Upstate New York is in Roscoe, N.Y. at the foothills of the Catskills. The village is known as “Trout Town USA.” The area is the birthplace of fly fishing in this country. The greater Roscoe area boasts five of the country’s top trout streams. They include Beaverkill River and Willowemoc Creek. A short distance away, anglers can also fish the east and west branches, and the main stem of the Delaware River.